James 1:13 - Meaning and Application

I. We are taught here that God is not the source of any person’s sin. No matter who persecutes others, or what injustice and evil they commit against them, God must not be blamed for it. And when good people, under pressure and suffering, are tempted into sin, God is still not the cause of that sin. James seems to assume that some believers might fail in a time of testing, and that their troubles might lead them into wrong paths. Even then, if they try to put the blame on God, the fault belongs to them alone.

First, nothing in God’s own nature gives anyone reason to blame him. “Let no one say, when he is tempted to do evil, ‘I am tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted by evil.” Moral evil always comes from some flaw in the one who does it, such as lack of wisdom, lack of power, or a dirty and disordered will. But who can accuse the holy God of lacking any of these things, when they belong to his very being? No situation can ever tempt God to dishonor himself or deny himself, so he cannot be tempted by evil.

Second, nothing in God’s providence, his wise rule over all things, can rightly be blamed for anyone’s sin. “He himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). As God cannot be tempted with evil, so he cannot be a tempter of others. He cannot support what goes against his own nature. The unspiritual heart is always ready to blame its sins on God, and this tendency goes back to the beginning. Adam said to God, “The woman you gave me tempted me,” and in effect threw blame back on God for giving him the woman who tempted him. Let no one speak this way. It is bad enough to sin, but it is even worse, after sinning, to charge God with it. Those who blame their sins on their nature, their life situation, or some supposed necessity to sin, wrong God as if he were the author of sin. God sends afflictions to draw out our graces, not our corrupt desires.

II. We are also taught where evil really comes from, and where the blame should be placed (James 1:14). “Each person is tempted when he is dragged away by his own desire and enticed.” In other parts of Scripture, the devil is called the tempter, and other things may also help lead us into temptation. But neither the devil nor anyone else should be blamed in a way that excuses us. The true beginning of evil and temptation is in our own hearts. The fuel is already within us, even if some outside cause fans the flame. So if you despise wisdom, you alone will bear the result (Proverbs 9:12).

Notice, first, the way sin grows. It first draws us away, then it entices us. Holiness has two parts, turning from evil and holding fast to good. Sin works in the opposite way. It pulls the heart away from what is good and then lures it toward what is evil. At first, corrupt desires, such as craving some pleasure or worldly thing, pull the person away from life with God. Then, little by little, the person becomes fixed in a course of sin.

Notice also the power and craft of sin. The phrase translated “dragged away” means being forced or hauled off. The word translated “enticed” means being lured and deceived by attractive promises and false appearances. Sin uses both force and trickery. It puts real pressure on conscience and the mind, and it also flatters and deceives to win us over. Sin could never win if it were not both cunning and powerful. People who perish are lured to their own ruin. This will always justify God in judging them, because they destroyed themselves. Their sin is their own, and their blood is on their own heads.

We also see the success of corruption in the heart (James 1:15). “Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin.” Once sin is allowed to stir up desire within us, those desires soon grow into consent, and then desire is said to have conceived. The sin is already real, even if it is still only in the beginning. When it grows fully in the mind, it is then brought into actual practice. So stop sin at the start, or else all the evil it produces must be charged to us.

And we see sin’s final outcome: “sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.” Once sin is carried out in actions, it is “finished” when it is strengthened by repeated acts and settled into habit, as Dr. Manton says. When human wickedness is filled up like that, death is brought forth. There is death for the soul, death for the body, and eternal death as well. So let sin be repented of and forsaken before it reaches that end. “Why will you die, house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11) God takes no pleasure in your death, just as he has no part in your sin. Both sin and misery come from yourselves. Your own lusts and corrupt desires are your tempters, and when they have slowly drawn you away from God and completed sin’s rule in you, they will become your destroyers.

III. We are taught further that, while we are the ones who bring sin and misery on ourselves, God is the Father and source of all good (James 1:16, James 1:17). We must be careful not to think wrongly about God. “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers,” that is, do not wander away from the Word of God and the truth you have received about him from the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit’s direction. James may be warning especially against loose and false ideas, such as those held by some corrupt teachers, including the Nicolaitans, from whom the later Gnostics, a deeply corrupt and sensual group, came.

Whatever false ideas corrupt people may spread, the truth in Jesus stands firm: God is not, and cannot be, the author or supporter of anything evil. He must be recognized as the source and spring of everything good. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Here we should notice that God is the Father of lights. The visible light of the sun and the heavenly bodies comes from him. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. In this way, God is both described as the Creator of the sun and, in some respects, compared to it.

As Baxter says, the sun is always the same in its nature and power, even though the earth and clouds often make it seem to change as it rises and sets, or seems to disappear. In the same way, God does not change. The changes and shadows we see are not in him, but in us.

He is “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” What the sun is in nature, God is in grace, providence, and glory, and far more. He is the source of every good gift. As the Father of lights, he gives the light of reason, for “the inspiration of the Almighty gives understanding” (Job 32:8). He also gives the light of learning. Solomon’s wisdom in nature, government, and all his skill is traced back to God. The light of divine revelation comes more directly from above. The light of faith, purity, and every kind of comfort also comes from him.

So we have nothing good that we did not receive from God. At the same time, there is no evil or sin in us, or done by us, that should be blamed on him. We must recognize God as the source of all the powers and gifts found in his creatures, and the giver of all the benefits we enjoy through them. But none of their darkness, weakness, or evil actions should be blamed on the Father of lights. From him comes every good and perfect gift, both for this life and the life to come.

And since every good gift comes from God, so does the renewal of our nature, our new birth, and every holy and happy result that follows it (James 1:18). “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth.” Notice here three things. First, a true Christian is a creature born anew. He is as different from his former self as if he had been made over again and born a second time. Second, the source of this good work is God’s own will. It does not come from our skill or strength, nor from any good he saw ahead of time in us, nor from anything we had done. It comes only from God’s good will and grace.

Third, the means God uses are named here, the word of truth, that is, the gospel. Paul says the same thing more plainly: “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). The gospel truly is a word of truth, or it could never produce such real, lasting, great, and noble effects. We can trust it and safely commit our immortal souls to it. We also find it working as a means of our sanctification, that is, our growing in holiness, because it is the word of truth (John 17:17).

Fourth, the purpose of God’s renewing grace is also stated: “that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” This means we are to be God’s special portion and treasure, set apart for him, just as the firstfruits were. We are to become holy to the Lord, just as the firstfruits were dedicated to him. Christ is the firstfruits of Christians, and Christians are the firstfruits of creatures.